Interview: What Blockchain Technology could Do for Nigeria And Africa At Large

As we know already that Blockchain Technology is disrupting numerous industries and the excitement about it’s potential is over hyped than it’ s functional use case in Africa.

Blockchain in Africa is already gaining momentum and it is a tide of change rippling through numerous industries in Africa.

Today, there are numerous Blockchain companies in Africa like Bitpesa,Bitland and a bunch of others who are disrupting the Africa Blockchain space in sectors such as Blockchain healthcare Africa, Africa Blockchain University etc. There are several Blockchain COnference holding all through out Africa with affiliates such Blockchain East Africa and Blockchain Nigeria User Group.

In the Nigeria FinTech space, there has been some sort of biased approach to this innovative technology in regards to it’s legalization asking question such as “is bitcoin legal in Nigeria ?” and listening to bitcoin news in Nigeria. There is no doubt that Nigeria has one of the largest Bitcoin market in Africa. There is a massive movement of blockchain technology in Nigeria today.

This is owing to the fact that there are alot of specualtions about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in Nigeria. Yet they have been a lot of Bitcoin Training in Nigeria and Cryptocurrency training in Nigeria.

They have been a misunderstanding of what Blockchain and Cryptocurrency is, i believe that the government is actually scared of the volatility of cyrptocurrencies not Blockchain technology. Blockchain Technology is not a currency but a disruptive ledger system that enables any asset coded into it to be distributed and prone to altercation or alterations. The Governmenent should understand that BlockchainTechnology is simply the under pining technology that powers cryptocurrencies, that give it the ability to be decentralized, distributed and not prone to hacking.

in this exclusive interview with Mr Alex Alieja CEO of Cryptopreneurng and the Head Of Human Resource Blockchain Tech Hub, at NTA Abuja, he talked about some of the endless possibilities the Blockchain technology can have on the Africa economy; below are some of his thoughts;

He strongly belives that Blockchain Technology was invented to level the playing ground in the distribution of economic advancement and to proffer solutions to the poverty that has laid siege on the continet Of Africa. “i believe that Blockchain can flip the charts in terms of infrastructural development for Nigeria and the African economy, if the Government should embrace the Blockchain Technology the potential are enormous and bring numerous benefits”

On whether the digital economy and Blockchain technology would displace day to day jobs he said ” as it were, day to day jobs won’t be completely replaced by digital economy and other disruptive emerging technology, but they will be a switch in roles and fundamenrtal job descriptions as we still needed human know how to carry out some jobs.

Here are some of the things he stated that Blockchain could for Nigeria and Africa At Large:

1 Data Base Management:

Currently there is no comprehensive record keeping and data management in Nigeria and Africa is it where does not have a unified data base system and proper record keeping facility, this can be a set back as the lack of a unified data might affect the government in check mating development goal and provide basic amenities to her people. Blockchain technology could make this possible by providing ledger system that is distributed; this is one of the key features of Blockchain technology.

Imagine what happens to sensitive information about someone health status, criminal records or census of the people and other key piece of information. Picture what this could do in our schools, our hospital, government parastatals and institutions. the possibilities are endless for Nigeria.

Estonia for example is leading the Blockchain technology movement as their public services are digitized and accessible through Blockchain technology

2 Election And Good Governance

Nigeria and Africa is always on the news for election misconducts or corrupt practices during election period, most of our leaders have come to agree that the election that brought them to power where rigged. Imagine what Blockchain technology could to our democracy if our election were indeed free and fair. Blockchain Technology could change the political ecosystem of Africa, disrupting one of the most popular remarks and opinion nations of the world have to come to believe about Nigeria and Africa at large.

Sierra-leone test ran this in their presidential elections becoming the first country to verify her presidential election through Blockchain.

3 Budget Tracking

Corruption is at the root of most of the set backs faced by most African country. Reports show that the continent loses $148 billion — 25% of Africa’s average GDP — every year to corruption. In the 2017 Open Budget Index (OBI) survey released in February, Nigeria scored 17%, ranking 90th out of 115 countries globally, and 23rd out of 38 African countries.

To tackle budget-related corruption, blockchain technology can be applied in the development of budget-tracking protocol. A blockchain-based application will save all transactions and expenditures and everyone in the network will be alerted at every update.

This will eliminate corruption and embezzlement of funds as the transaction data including transaction amount, time, account number(s), and receiver(s) will all be under public scrutiny.

It is our strongest belief that Blockchain Technology was invented to help Nigeria and Africa take the lead in Blockchain based Development that will transform Africa and bring about Grass Root Development.

We strongly solicit that the Government of African Nation be open to this disruptive technology by providing opportunity to learn and access to good educational resources, so our youth can channel their creative energies to build Africa’s economy.

This is the clip of the interview Alex Alieja our CEO had On NTA Abuja; where he discussed about Blockchain and Digital economy

However one of the challenges that Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain-Based disruption is faced with is regulation, the Government should ensure that this technology is not hijacked to carry activities that could hamper the growth of the economy.

About Alex Alieja

Alex Alieja is the Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of CryptopreneurNg. with a verse experience in Blockchain technology and Cryptocurrency. I'm also the head of human resource at Blockchain Tech Hub and a Tech consultant for Satowallet.

3 Comments

Political News

bloggar.org

With the surfacing of blockchain concept, innovation appears far from over, and new and innovative functions and techniques manifest themselves. We seek to orchestrate the adoption of an entirely decentralized ecosystem by using distributed ledger technological innovation. This is a very exciting time to be established in the blockchain area and because more individuals take on this disruptive solution, it is going to conceivably permit us to build a more safeguarded, fair and open world.

Bloggar

With the appearance of blockchain technologies, advancement appears not even close to being over, and new and innovative functions and techniques emerge. We make an effort to orchestrate the adoption of an altogether decentralized ecosystem with the aid of distributed ledger technology. It is an extremely exciting time to be doing work in the blockchain space and since more individuals take on this disruptive solution, it is going to hopefully permit us to construct a far more safeguarded, appropriate and open world.